NHAI told to pay unpaid land-acquisition compensation; Gujarat High Court orders inquiry into officers’ attempt to revise award without statutory power

The petitioners sought payment of the unpaid differential compensation under the original award dated 30 March 2013.

The competent authority had subsequently revised the award, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) deposited compensation under that revised award in 2015.

In a prior judgment dated 31 January 2018, the High Court set aside the revised award for want of statutory review power and restored the original award.

The petitioners’ contempt application was disposed of with liberty to pursue an appropriate remedy for payment; they then brought this petition seeking enforcement of the restored award.

NHAI argued that it had deposited compensation under the revised award and that applications under Section 3G(5) of the National Highways Act, 1956, were pending before the statutory arbitrator.

1. Whether NHAI was required to deposit the unpaid difference in compensation under the original award after that award was restored by the High Court, despite its deposit under the revised award and the stated pendency of arbitration proceedings.

2. Whether the petitioners were entitled to statutory interest for the delay in payment of the differential compensation.

Under Section 3G(1) of the National Highways Act, 1956, the competent authority determines compensation for land acquired under the Act; Section 3G(5) provides a statutory route to challenge that determination before an arbitrator.

The Court applied the principle that, in the absence of statutory review power, the competent authority could not revise its original award at NHAI’s request; the High Court had already applied that principle in its judgment of 31 January 2018, which set aside the revised award and restored the original award.

The Court also directed determination of delayed-payment interest under Section 80 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, at the rates of 9% and 15%.

Because the original award had been restored, NHAI was required to pay the compensation due under it, including the unpaid differential amount, within a reasonable time.

Its earlier deposit under the revised award did not discharge that obligation.

Nor did NHAI’s stated Section 3G(5) challenge—filed years after the original award and after NHAI had defended the revised award—excuse non-payment of the amount due under the restored award.

The Court further held that the delay after restoration justified a supplementary award of statutory interest.

It directed the competent authority to issue, within two weeks, a supplementary award determining interest under Section 80 of the 2013 Act at 9% and 15% from 31 January 2018 until deposit.

NHAI was to deposit the interest so determined within four weeks of the supplementary award, and the compensation was to be disbursed after verification of the landholders’ entitlement.